


Dante's Despair

by DarkSkull198



Series: The Dante's Despair AU [1]
Category: 101 Dalmatian Street (Cartoon)
Genre: Accidental Death, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bad Decisions, Emotional Roller Coaster, Family Drama, Gen, Guilt, I'm Bad At Summaries, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Magical Artifacts, Mild Blood, Minor Character Death, My First Fanfic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past friendship between Dante & Dawkins, Platonic Relationships, Post-Canon, Rating May Change, Secrets, Self-Hatred, Sibling Bonding, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:29:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26655193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkSkull198/pseuds/DarkSkull198
Summary: Dante drives his family nuts with a week of non-stop predictions, causing most of them to lash out. Feeling like he's a problem for them, along with being haunted by a hidden part of his life, Dante decides to run away from home and sort out his issues on his own.On this journey, he'll encounter faces both old and new and learn things about himself that he never thought possible, all the while being stalked by something that could potentially bring about the end of the world.
Relationships: Dante/Dawkins (101 Dalmatians), Delilah/Doug (101 Dalmatians), Dolly & Dylan (101 Dalmatians)
Series: The Dante's Despair AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2123898
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	Dante's Despair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, time for a new start. If you're wondering where the other chapters are, then don't, because I got rid of them. Don't worry about the original Chapter 5 though, because I saved a copy of it on docs. I'll reupload it once everything else is sorted out, though it probably won't be the fifth chapter anymore what with where I plan to take this story now.
> 
> Without further ado, let's begin.

Dylan hummed in delight as he laid on his back in his treehouse, immersed in the newest comic book issue of Poodlewolf. After a long, hard morning of watching over his siblings and cleaning up any messes they made - by himself, naturally - he was glad to finally have some alone time for the rest of the evening.

Nothing could possibly ruin this moment.

"Hey, Dylan!"

Dylan groaned. The universe was out to prove him wrong.

He dropped the comic onto his chest. Standing above him was Dolly with a playful smile.

"What do you want, Dolly? Can't you see I'm busy?" Dylan asked as he brushed the comic’s pages.

Dolly frowned a little. "Busy with what? All you're doing is reading that lame Poodlewoof stuff again."

Dylan facepalmed. "It's not called—" He sighed. "Whatever. Just tell me why you're here."

"Well, I was wondering if a sweet and caring brother of mine wanted to hang with his favorite sister so she doesn't die of boredom?" Dolly asked eagerly, putting on an adorable face.

Her words and her pleasant smile might've worked on anyone else, but not Dylan. He knew her too well to be easily swayed. 

"Sorry, sis, no can do," he said. "I just got to the part where Poodlewolf and his allies face off against the newest threat to Catatonia, and I can't miss it. Speaking of which…"

Dylan brought the comic back up to his face, obscuring his sister from view. He only managed to flip one page before Dolly yanked it out of his paws with her teeth and threw it across the room.

"Hey! I was reading that!" he said as he sat up.

"Come on, bro. Please?" Dolly begged, holding her paws together. "Mom and dad took away my skateboard, and I only have three days left until I can go back to the park!"

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have crashed into them while you were recklessly riding that thing." Dylan said with a stern expression. "Dad still has some bruises left on his face, y'know?"

Dolly rubbed the back of her head.

"Yeah, don't remind me." Her pleading mask slipped on again.. "But dude, I have nothing else to do! I'm bored out of my mind!" she said as she pulled on her ears.

Dylan gave her a half-lidded stare. "Is there really nothing else you can do, like watch TV or read a book or even jump on the trampoline outside?"

Dolly shook her head wildly.

"I don't feel like doing those things today!” she whined, waving her paws in the air like she was swatting flies. “I tried asking everyone else if they wanted to play with me, but they all said no!" She planted her paws in front of her, full of desperation. "You're my second to last option, bro! I need you!" 

Dylan raised an eyebrow as his ear twitched. "Second to last? Who's the last option?"

"IT'S DOOMSDAY!"

"You just had to ask, didn't you?" Dolly groaned with a roll of her eyes.

They both looked over to Dante at the entrance with his typical gloomy demeanor.

Dylan could barely suppress a sigh. He would never get some peace and quiet at this point, especially with his overdramatic brother here.

"What is it now, Dante?" he asked, unamused.

"I have another vision! An earthquake will shake the treehouse apart, sending it tumbling to our DOOM!"

Dylan rolled his eyes. "Dante, that's not going to happen."

Dante leapt forward and landed right in front of the two before giving them a soul piercing gaze. "Yes it will! Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but it WILL happen soon, and when it does, we'll all face… DISASTER!" 

He echoed the last word as he wiggled his fingers in their faces. All Dylan and Dolly could do was give him a deadpan look.

"Are ya done yet, dude?" Dolly asked dully. 

Dante squinted as he crouched and slowly backed away. "Oh, I'm far from done. The end of the world is coming and everyone has to know!"

He slipped out of the treehouse as quickly as he came in.

Dylan's eyes lingered on the spot where Dante was last seen. "Sheesh, someone's been extra gloomy today." He turned to Dolly. "You think we should be worried?"

Dolly blew a raspberry and waved him off. "Nah, it's just Dante being Dante." A smirk broke through her nonchalance. "Anyway, since you're not reading that lame book anymore—"

"No, Dolly."

"Aw, come on!"

The sounds of the pair bickering reached Dante's ears as he went into the house, but he hardly cared about it. After all, with the apocalypse waiting to happen at any moment, why bother? He had work to do. 

Many of the pups played around as Dante trotted past them. He had never admitted it out loud, but he envied his siblings sometimes, especially the little ones. They're always so full of energy, and their happiness radiated off of them like a bright, burning sun eager to shine its light throughout the day. No matter how much he longed for it, Dante knew that he wasn't like them. 

Not anymore.

That was why he had to warn them of the upcoming danger. One of his predictions will come true, he was sure of it, and he couldn't allow any of them to get hurt. He needed to protect them, and he knew exactly who could help him with that. 

That was, if the pup would cooperate with him.

Dante sprinted upstairs to an open door at the far left end. He walked into the room and scanned the area, but besides the newly stitched up Princess Positron on his brother's bed, there was no one else there. He was ready to check somewhere else when his ears caught the sound of footsteps approaching.

"What are you doing in my room?"

He spun around and faced Dawkins, who was holding a familiar red keyboard in his paws. 

"Why do you have DJ's keyboard?" Dante asked curiously.

"DJ simply requested me to make some improvements to it," Dawkins explained as he sat the keyboard aside. "But I digress. What do you want, Dante?"

Dante shifted a little as he tried to think of the right words to say. "Um, well…"

Dawkins heaved a heavy, weary sigh. "This is about the end of the world again, isn't it?"

"You didn't have to say it like that," Dante grumbled before pushing on. "Yes. I need your help to build a doomsday bunker in the basement. It might take a long time, but we can ask mom, dad, and everyone else to—"

"Dante, we're not doing that," he said bluntly.

"We have to!" Dante insisted as he grabbed Dawkins' face. "Didn't you see the stars align last night?! That was a sign! The apocalypse could arrive at any second! We have to be ready!" 

Dawkins pried him off and pinched the bridge of his nose before taking a deep breath. Dante waited for another refusal to help or for the know-it-all to dismiss his predictions again, but what he said next caught him completely off guard.

"You're twelve."

Dante blinked once, then twice. "What?"

Dawkins opened his eyes and glared into his. The ugly blend of weariness and frustration that had become customary in their private talks appeared once more, and like always, Dante hated it. 

"You're twelve years old, Dante, and I'm only one year younger than you are," He pointed out with a paw in the air. "Both Dylan and Dolly are a year older than you."

"So?"

"You're the third oldest sibling in the family, yet they always rely on me to take charge of the pups whenever they're away." Dawkins placed both of his paws on his own chest. " _Me_ , Dante, not you."

Dante narrowed his eyes. "What are you trying to say?"

"What I am trying to say, dear older brother,” Dawkins said, crossing his forelegs, “is that maybe you should stop with these inane predictions and start thinking about your own future."

_Oh. Oh, I see._

Dante could feel anger stirring within him. "So you think I won’t be a good top dog when Dylan and Dolly move out someday?"

Dawkins shook his head sternly. "No, I don't think you can, not like the way you are now. That's why I refuse to indulge in your antics until you put an end to it."

Dante widened his eyes in disbelief before he snorted and clenched his fists. "Of course. Of course you would say that. I don't know why I thought you of all dogs would wanna help me. You don't care about me anymore, not after what you did."

"Are you really bringing that up again?" Dawkins scoffed. "What happened between us was your fault, not mine."

"Me?!" he huffed in outrage, raising his voice. He pressed his finger right against Dawkins' snout. "You were the one who wouldn't leave it alone! I _trusted_ you, Dawkins! I always told you that I didn't want anyone, even you, to see what was in it, but noooooo"—he rolled his eyes as he drew the word out—"you just had to try and stick your nose where it didn't belong!"

"That's because I was trying to get to the bottom of your behavior!" he yelled as he smacked Dante's paw away. "I was trying to help you! If you could stop being so stubborn, then you would see that!"

"I don't want your help, not with that!" Dante exclaimed. "You can't—" He hung his head, his voice stoic. "You don't understand."

"How can I understand when you won't tell me?! I've tried time and time again to get you to talk whenever we're alone together, but you always refuse! I'm sick of it!" 

Dante's face screwed up tightly in a mix of anguish and exasperation, but he still didn't meet Dawkins' gaze. He wished his brother would just let it go already! Why did he do that all the time?! Why didn’t he get it?! He couldn’t tell him! He couldn’t tell anyone!

"How long do you plan to keep up with this, hmm?!” Dawkins asked. “How many predictions will it take until you've had enough?! Will you ever listen to reason?!"

Dante finally looked up at Dawkins with an intense glare. "I won't stop until the end of the world finally comes. I can see the future, Dawkins. I know it will happen."

"Ugh, no you can't!" he retorted as he ran a paw down his face. "Looking into the future is merely fiction! There's no logical basis or evidence for any of it, especially not for the nonsense you spew out all the time! Believe whatever you want, Dante, but you can't rely on your predictions forever!" 

"Maybe not," Dante shrugged before his muzzle curled upward in a bitter sneer, "but at least they won't stab me in the back like a certain smart-ass brother."

Dawkins bared his fangs and growled, giving Dante the most vicious look he had ever seen on the younger pup. His claws scraped the floor as his body shook in rage. 

"How dare you, you superstitious simpleton! Take that back or I'll… I'll…"

Dante leaned forward until his nose pressed against his brother's. "You'll what?"

The tension grew as thick as moldy kibble. Other than the subtle twitch of their paws, neither of the two made any further movements as they snarled and stared down one another. Seconds ticked by until Dawkins lifted his paw and extended it towards the doorway.

"Get out."

Dante clenched his jaw, but stifled any protests. He should've known this would be a waste of time.

He purposely bumped into Dawkins' shoulder as he stormed out of his room. It was a petty thing to do, but he was too pissed off to care. Though he never glanced back, Dante knew his brother glared holes into the back of his head as he went down the hall.

Once he slipped into his own room and kicked the door closed, Dante fell onto his bed with a plop and closed his eyes, his chest rising and falling heavily as he rolled onto his back and took in lungfuls of air with each calming breath. It helped him relax, but just barely. Even then, the argument from earlier left a bitter taste in his mouth that wouldn’t go away.

_"Looking into the future is merely fiction."_ Dante mimicked with a paw before blowing a raspberry. "Stupid Dawkins. What the hell do you know?"

He shifted and sat upright, a mixed expression of frustration and sadness coming across his face. Dante suddenly felt both conflicted and confused. He was well used to his other siblings ignoring his warnings at this point (even though it did bother him), so how come Dawkins always managed to get under his fur? It's just Dawkins! His smart but annoying brother! He shouldn't care about what he thinks anymore!

Why did part of him desperately wanted the pup to be with him again? Why can't he move on? He doesn't miss what they once had! He shouldn't!

….And yet, sometimes he couldn't help but wonder: _Does Dawkins miss it at all? Does he miss him?_

Dante quickly shook his head at the idea. _Don't be stupid, Dante, he doesn't miss you and you don't miss him._ he thought to himself as his face hardened. _You didn't do anything wrong, he did. You don't need that traitor._

A familiar ache returned as soon as he finished that thought. He decided to say it out loud to reassure himself.

"I don't need him." 

Nope. Still there. He swallowed hard and tried again, slightly louder this time.

_"I don't need him."_

It was flaring up now, pumping him with gnawing emotions of doubt along with… regret? Dante grunted and tried once more, this time putting more emphasis and conviction in each word. 

**"I. Don't. Need. Him."**

Dante felt something small and wet roll down his cheek. The temperature in the house was pretty mild, so he knew it wasn't sweat. He wiped his face and moaned loudly while tugging his ears.

"What is wrong with me?!" 

Just then, Dante's attention was caught by a knock on his door. He was about to go over and open it, but right as he got off the bed, he hesitated. What if it was Dawkins? He can't face him right now. 

"Dante, can I come in?"

A sigh of relief escaped him. It was just Dylan. That was good enough for him.

"Go ahead."

The door creaked as Dylan pushed into the room, though Dante soon began to regret inviting him in the second his brother gave him the "Bossy Dork" look, as Dolly usually called it. 

"Dante, we need to talk." he said. "It's about your fight with Dawkins."

Dante mentally sighed. He was expecting this to happen eventually, but he did NOT wanna deal with it right now.

"A fight?" Dante asked in faux confusion. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Dylan cocked an eyebrow. "Really?" he asked suspiciously before knitting his brows together again. "Then do you mind explaining why the pups heard angry shouting coming from Dawkins' room that sounded like you and him? 

A nervous sweat threatened to form on Dante's head. "Like I said, I don't know what you're talking about." he repeated as calmly as he could, giving his brother a fake smile. "I've just been in here looking for signs of the upcoming apocalypse."

Dylan cocked his head to the side and watched Dante like a hawk. He didn't look like he believed one bit of it. "You were looking for signs of the apocalypse… in your own room?"

"Hey, they could be anywhere at all times, even in places where you least expect them to be." Dante answered defensively.

He really thought his brother would just accept it and leave him alone, but unfortunately, fate reminded him that this was Dylan he was currently dealing with. He loved his brother, but he can be a real pain in the tail sometimes. 

"Dante, just tell me the truth." he demanded. "Did you have a fight with Dawkins?"

"No!"

Dylan narrowed his eyes and took a step closer. Dante drooped his ears and chewed his lip until he finally caved in. "Okay, maybe I did," he confessed with a pout. "but he started it!"

Dylan uttered a noise of disapproval and rolled his eyes. "I don't care who started it, just tell me how it happened."

Dante soon found himself in a clearing surrounded by dead trees and a howling wind blowing his fur. Lightning cracked the sky as thunderclouds swarmed above and poured down a torrent of misery over his head.

"There I was, bracing myself for the end of all things once again…" he began dramatically, holding his paws in the air.

"Explain it normally, Dante!"

The scenery poofed away like a thought cloud and Dante was back in his room, standing in front of an impatient Dylan. 

"Fiiiine." he groaned as he straightened out his body. "I just wanted Dawkins to help me build a doomsday bunker in the basement."

"Let me guess: he said no?" Dylan inquired.

"That's not all he did. He insulted my predictions and said I'm not good enough to be top dog just because of the way I am." Dante complained, pacing back and forth slowly. "You know what else he did? He told me I can't see the future because it's fiction." He ended his rant with a stomp on the ground. "Fiction! Can you believe it?!"

Dylan rubbed the back of head. "No offense, but he kinda has a point."

"What?!" Dante exclaimed.

"You're not a little pup anymore, Dante. One of these days you'll have to drop this act of yours and finally take some responsibility around the house." he explained strictly.

"It's not an act, Dylan!" Dante proclaimed before he placed a paw on his own chest. "This is who I am! Without me, who's going to warn everyone of a worldwide epidemic that will destroy civilization?"

Dylan sighed wearily. "That right there is why we don't have a choice but to leave Dawkins in charge instead of you. You frighten the pups and annoy the rest of us with your predictions. It's always "the end of the world" this or "we're all doomed" that."

"Well, you guys need to be scared." Dante asserted. "Doomsday will be upon us at any moment and my predictions will let us know when it happens."

Dylan facepalmed. "Oh my dog, no they won't! Nothing bad is gonna happen!"

Dante hummed and rubbed his chin playfully. "Isn't that exactly what you said on the day when Hunter came back to get us?" he teased. "I seem to recall several bad things happening on that fateful day that a certain dog predicted accurately. Who was it again?" He then grinned broadly with puffed cheeks while his tail perked up slightly. "Oh right, it was me!" 

"Oh please, those were just lucky guesses at best." Dylan scoffed, waving his paw dismissively. "Besides, it's not like any of them were real anyway."

Both dalmatians completely froze in their spots and went wide eyed. 

"What do you mean they weren't real?" Dante asked slowly. 

"Oh, um…" Dylan tapped his paws together and smiled nervously as he darted his eyes from left to right. Before Dante could question him further, he uttered a quick excuse and dashed out of the room.

"Hey! Get back here and answer me!" Dante called out as he chased after Dylan.

He tailed him downstairs and stayed close behind as they ran around the house for the next several minutes. A bunch of the pups, including Dizzy, Dee Dee, and Dorothy all joined in on the chase, believing it to be just a game. Dante eventually managed to corner Dylan back upstairs in the family bedroom once he got tired, though the goth felt pretty winded himself.

"Now tell me… what you meant earlier… or else." he said between pants. 

"Do… whatever you want," Dylan declared, puffing as he leaned on a pillow. "I'll never talk."

"Uh, what's going on here?"

The two twisted their heads at Dolly as she pushed through the gathered pups and made her way next to them.

"Dylan said my predictions from last month weren't real," Dante explained fretfully as he turned back to his brother. "but that can't be true, it just can't!"

Dante honestly wasn't sure what kind of reaction Dolly would make from that. Annoyance? Possibly. Shock? Maybe. The one emotion he least expected, however, was genuine outrage. Was… was this for him? Did she actually believe those predictions were real just as much as he does? This was great! As soon as another prediction comes true, he can prove to Dawkins and everyone else that he-

"You told him about the fake predictions, dude?!"

A record scratch played in Dante's head, nearly overlapping with the gasps of shock from behind him. 

His predictions were faked?!

"I-It came up during our conversation!" Dylan stammered, holding his paws up defensively. "He was gonna find out about it sooner or later!"

Dolly slapped her forehead and groaned. "Ugh, you are unbelievable sometimes, y'know?"

"Oh, you're one to talk, disaster train!" Dylan snapped. 

Dolly muttered something, probably another jab at Dylan, before finally facing Dante. She winced at the betrayed look he was throwing at her. Good. She should feel bad. 

"Dante, I can explain..." she started to say as she shuffled in front of him. 

"You lied to me." 

He surprised himself at how he was able to say it so blatantly without raising his voice. Perhaps it was the fact that he still felt a little exhausted from earlier, or because part of him knew Dolly must've had a good reason for this, but Dante just couldn't bring himself to yell at her. Not yet, at least.

Dolly winced again and glanced at the floor. "Look, don't think of it as lying. Think of it as…" She rubbed her foreleg briefly before meeting his eyes again with a tense grin. "Enhancing the truth!" 

Dante twitched his eye as he felt his blood boil in his veins. "Enhancing the truth?" he repeated in an affronted, incredulous tone. "Enhancing the truth. That's your excuse? Really?" He emitted a loud snort. "And what exactly is the truth, Dolly?"

She gulped and flashed her fangs in a dubious manner. "Uh…"

Dante held a paw up to her face. "No, don't tell me," he said tightly before he slammed it back down. "because I know exactly what the truth is. This was all just some prank, wasn't it?"

Dolly's eyes went wide. "What? No!" she yelled as she shook her paws.

"Quit lying, Dolly! That's exactly what you would do!" he finally exploded. "You tricked me into thinking my predictions came true! Why?!"

"I… I-I just..." Dolly stumbled between her words before she swallowed the lump in her throat and spoke with complete sincerity: "I just wanted to make you happy, bro." 

Dante's expression faltered. "Huh?"

"You were so bummed out over your predictions not coming true that you did nothing but mope around the house." she explained, placing her paw on his shoulder. "I mean, sure, being mopey and overdramatic is what you do, but you looked so… _broken_ back then. Me and Dylan had to do something about it."

All of Dante's anger melted away like butter as he felt guilt stab into his heart. The soft whimpers of pity from the pups increased the feeling tenfold, causing his ears to droop.

Dolly released his shoulder, a sigh escaping her. "So, after everything else didn't work, I got the idea to fake stuff to make it seem like your predictions were actually right. That way, you wouldn't be sad anymore," She gave him a warm smile. "and hey, it worked, didn't it?" she finished with a wink.

Dante bowed his head and gave it some thought. He should've noticed how weird it was that Dolly was always there whenever a prediction happened. Come to think of it, there weren't even any clouds when he said it would rain! How in the world did he miss that detail?! After all the years of failed predictions, he thought he was finally getting somewhere at last, but nope, all of it was fake! He just wanted one of them to come true! Was that too much to ask?! 

Then again, it did feel pretty good when he thought he was finally able to predict the future. Well, until he took it too far with his Dantastico phase. He was never going to live that reckless mistake down. 

Despite all of that, Dante focused more on the good moments of that day, and he couldn't help but beam with happiness as he met eyes with his sister again. 

"So everyone refusing to play with me, the bowls falling down and the rain? You did all of that for me?" he asked, feeling his tail threaten to wag.

"Of course I did." Dolly replied with a warm smile. "You know why? Because even though you're sometimes a buzzkill like Dylan, you're still my little bro."

"Hey!" Dylan whined as he got up close to them.

"What? It's true. Don't deny it." she nudged him playfully and chortled at his annoyed expression before pulling both brothers into a tight hug. "But like I was saying, you're family, Dante, and family always stick together. Right, guys?"

The pups cheered in agreement and threw themselves onto the elder siblings in a classic group hug. Dolly and Dante popped out their heads and shared a good laugh while Dylan dragged himself out of the pile and clapped his paws together.

"Alright, break it up." he ordered.

The pups dispersed around the room and played with either each other or with whatever they got their paws on. Some of them went out of the room to go wherever they were heading off to. 

Dante stood up and brushed his fur. "Hey, Dolly? Thanks for cheering me up that day." he said as he turned to her before rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Sorry for, uh, overreacting earlier."

"Eh, no worries." she replied casually, though there was a hint of content in her voice. She got to her feet and stretched her forelegs together. "Whelp, I'mma go chill in the living room. Catch ya guys later."

With a quick wave goodbye, Dolly sauntered out through the dog door.

"I'm gonna head off too." Dylan sighed as he walked towards the door. He looked back with a serious frown. "I hope you think about what I said earlier, Dante."

Dante made a soft groan and rolled his eyes reflexively. "Whatever."

"I mean it." Dylan expressed as he placed his paw on the door. "Oh, and I'm going to have you and Dawkins patch things up with each other before mum and dad get back." he added. Then, he left before Dante could say anything else.

Dante shifted and wrinkled his muzzle like he had eaten something terrible. Patch things up with Dawkins? How the hell was he going to do that? He was sure his brother didn't want to speak with him at the moment, and quite frankly, he didn't feel like dealing with him either. 

Besides, there was something very important he needed to go to.

Or rather, _someone_.

Dante looked around suspiciously at his siblings as he slowly made his way out of the bedroom. Just to make sure his siblings were truly distracted, he took a quick peek through the dog door. Some of the pups noticed and gave him looks of mild confusion, but they made no attempts to approach. 

Looks like he was in the clear. 

He drew his head back and rushed further upstairs, only stopping once he made it to the top. He then took a cautious walk down the hallway until he reached the stairway that led to the attic. When his eyes landed on its entrance, he could feel his heart racing and his stomach churning and twisting into a constricting knot. 

"Stop being so nervous, Dante," he scolded himself quietly. "You've done this plenty of times before and they still haven't caught you yet."

He took one last glance over his shoulder. He could faintly hear DJ and Da Vinci in their rooms, but other than that, there was no one out here. It was just him and him alone.

Dante turned back to the attic and released his held breath with a large exhale.

_Okay, I can do this._

He tiptoed up the stairs and entered the attic. Once he gently closed the hatch, he swung around and padded towards the left corner near the window where a dusty, cobweb covered storage chest resided. It was left alone by the family since it mainly contained some old, creepy and forgotten junk from a human that once lived here. No one paid any mind to it. No one saw any value that could come from it. No one except for Dante, that is.

After all, it served as the perfect hiding place for dark secrets. 

Dante blew a puff of air on the chest, causing some dust to fly off and hit him in the face. He coughed for a bit and wiped his face before he lifted its lid over and peered into the chest with a determined glimmer in his eyes. 

A small, plain box was nestled underneath dolls with cracked faces, missing limbs and porcelain skin that had worn out from age. Why a human would leave these creepy toys here instead of throwing them out or, at the very least, have them repaired, was something that Dante never understood, but hey, he's not complaining.

"I'm so glad no one ever goes into this thing." Dante remarked as he pushed the dolls aside. "I wish I didn't have to hide you, but..." A deep sigh brimming with dejection escaped him as he pulled out the box. "They can never know the truth. _Never_."

He sat it on the floor, took the lid off and put it next to the box. There were two things inside of the box: a crystal ball on a gold stand with small scorch marks outlined on its surface and a photo that, unlike the first object, remained immaculate. Dante reached for the photo and brought it up close to face. He smiled sadly as he brushed his purple fingers against it.

"Hey, it's me again." 

Dante knew the photo couldn't talk back, but he didn't care. This was close enough to the real thing that he doesn't give a fuck what anyone else would think if they saw him now. Not that anyone will ever know about this.

"Yeah, I know it's been a while since we last talked. Sorry about that." he said, scratching his head a bit. "Me and the family have been pretty busy lately. We're just now getting over everything that happened last month with… well, you know."

The next few minutes were filled with uncomfortable silence. Dante felt a gust of different emotions erupt within him like a devastating volcano as he stared intensely at the photo. He then sports an indecisive frown as he quickly remembered why he was here.

"Look, the reason I came to you is because there were some things that happened today and I can't go to mom, dad or even Deepak about it." 

Dante waited a moment before he continued.

"No, no, I do trust them, but you're the only one who understands what it's like to see visions of the future."

He waited again until he gave out a vexing sigh.

"Yeah, that's what this is about again. My predictions. Do you want to hear what happened?"

He didn't get an actual answer. He was never going to get one, but that was fine with him. 

Yep… totally fine. 

Dante took a deep breath and steeled himself for everything he was about to say next.

"Okay, I'll tell you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the first chapter rewritten. What do you think of it? Is it better than the original? Well, it probably is to be honest. I had no idea where I wanted to take this story when I first started it, but now that I do, I can improve scenes and key elements of the plot as well as add some things that originally weren't there before, like the argument between Dante and Dawkins for example.
> 
> There's also some things I want to clarify. The Dalmatian family in this story are about a year older than they are in the show. It's not that important to the plot since none of them have really changed appearance-wise (though Dorothy now has a few spots on one of her ears. If I could draw, I'd show you guys what that would look like), but I do want this story to have some real world logic applied to it which, yes, does sound ironic in retrospect. I still have no clue how dog years work, so I'm just going to say that eight to nine months equals a year for dogs. It's probably inaccurate as hell, but for the sake of this story, let's assume that the family actually aged a bit during Hunter's six month imprisonment.
> 
> Also, I'm now aware that the dalmatians all sleep together in one bedroom in the show (except for the parents), so I'll explain it like this: Dawkins, Dante, DJ, Da Vinci and Deepak are the only siblings with their own rooms. Dawkins and Dante's rooms used to belong to Dylan and Dolly respectively, but Dylan gave up his to Dawkins once the treehouse was built while Dolly had to give up hers to Dante due to… circumstances, though only Dante really sleeps in his room most of the time. DJ and Da Vinci really only have their own rooms to use for their specific interests. As for Deepak? Well, his room is really just an empty area that anyone can use, but he uses it the most for his Guru Miaow meditations and as a safe haven to help a sibling or two with whatever personal problems they have. 
> 
> Besides all of that though, everything in the show still happened the same way in this universe with only a few minor differences here and there. I might explore it in the future whenever I get the chance.
> 
> Whelp, that's all I wanted to say. Until next time!


End file.
